Todd Tate has been playing bass guitar since he was a toddler, and he hasn’t stopped. On a corner near 1698 S. Barksdale St., in the University District, music is playing everyday and night, coming out the windows of the home of a man who is passionately in love with music. “Music is all I know,” Tate said.

Picture of Tate as a toddler.

The 50-year-old man was given a guitar at the age of 2, and he has been playing ever since.

“I saw my big brothers playing, and they got a lot of girlfriends, so my mama bought me one because I wanted to be like them,” Tate said.

He mentioned how he learned to play and that was with one string on the guitar by ear.

“I got so good, I started writing my own songs,” Tate said.

He admits to twisting songs around adding his own style to original music, but he said jealousy grew from his older brothers because he got so talented.

“I have about 6,000 original songs of mine sitting around,” Tate said.

He has traveled to places like New York, Boston, Cincinnati and Paris to play his guitar.

“Many people from all over the world know me, but I choose to stay grounded and humble to what I am gifted at doing,” Tate said.

Bountiful Blessings Church in South Memphis was where he held a position as bass guitarist for 19 years.

Tate was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006 for his work while playing on Black Entertainment Television.

His band is called X-Soul, and it plays at casinos in Mississippi, yet his home church, Mt. Vernon

Church of God in Christ in South Memphis, is where he loves to play the most.

“He is one of the most talented bassist in the city because of his dedication to practice and his loyalty to the group,” said Marvin Morgan, drummer of the X-Soul band.

“When my mama passed, she came back to me in spirit and she said, ‘Son, go home,’ and that is why I came back to Mt.Vernon,” Tate said.

He knows this is his destiny because he eats, sleeps, and breathes music.

“I wake up in the middle of the night and I have to have my recorder and guitar alongside my bed and I hear a melody and begin to play what I hear. It’s almost like the music comes from heaven and the notes come down to me and I put it into a song,” Tate said.